Netherlands Poor Investigation into Fatal Shooting of Civilian in Iraq The case concerned the investigation by the Netherlands authorities into the circumstances surrounding the death of an Iraqi civilian who died of gunshot wounds in Iraq in April 2004 in an incident involving Netherlands Royal Army personnel. In Grand Chamber judgment Jaloud v. the Netherlands (application no. 47708/08) in the case the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been: a violation of Article 2 (right to life - procedural obligations) of the European Convention on Human Rights, as regards the failure of the Netherlands authorities to carry out an effective investigation into the death of Mr Jalouds son. The Court established that the complaint about the investigation into the incident - which had occurred in an area under the command of an officer of the armed forces of the United Kingdom - fell within the jurisdiction of the Netherlands within the meaning of Article 1 of the Convention (contract parties obligation to respect the rights guaranteed in the Convention). The Court noted in particular that the Netherlands had retained full command over its military personnel in Iraq. The Court came to the conclusion that the investigation had been characterised by serious shortcomings, which had made it ineffective. In particular, records of key witness statements had not been submitted to the judicial authorities; no precautions against collusion had been taken before questioning the Netherlands Army officer who had fired at the car carrying the victim; and the autopsy of the victims body had been inadequate.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 10:50:13 +0000
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